Under the Cherry Blossom Tree
by Jellykuh
Summary: Sasuke has returned, everything is alright now, and it seems like he's warmed up to his fellow team 7 teammate; Sakura. /// my first SasuSaku ONE-SHOT.


Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto is the genius behind Naruto and it's characters.

* * *

(With Sakura)

"Are you sure you want ALL those ma'am?" said the lady at the shop, questioningly eyeing the 2 big grocery bags Sakura was holding, one bag was full of big red tomatoes and the other one was full of instant ramen cups.

"Hai" she smiled in reply.

"All these please".

She handed the money and continued walking.

It was a beautiful afternoon and Sakura couldn't wait to meet her two best friends at the old training grounds.

Yes,_ two_, for Sasuke had returned.

It took a while for Sasuke to warm up to Konoha again, but eventually, he did; everything was alright now, except Sasuke WAS still on probation by the Hokage, after all; he _was_ a rogue ninja, that isn't taken very lightly, Sakura was persuasive and forceful towards her shishou; to give him another chance, to prove he was back…and for good. He was lucky Tsunade-sama was on a good mood that day…

* * *

(With Sasuke)

"SASUKE-KUNNNN!!!!"

"Sasuke-sama marry me!"

"Sasuke-kun take me!!!"

Shouted the fangirls in unision as they ran after Sasuke, who was hot on his heels, running away from the closely approaching mob of girls,

"Pfft. How annoying, women their age still fawning over me, it's disgraceful" he thought bitterly to himself.

But then they caught up to him, and soon he was being torn apart, in a mosh-pit-like circle of girls, he tried restraining himself from using Chidori Nagashi and frying these annoying flies to a crisp. But no, Sasuke was a gentleman and he didn't like the idea of a man hurting a woman.

(With Sakura)

**What's all that noise? Sounds like a bunch of seagulls getting murdered.**

_It's probably Sasuke's fangirls squealing._

**Maybe...hmmm... Boyyy if Karin's there, I wanna smack the sleaze outta her.**

_Ooo, what's the sudden interest in Karin-smacking?_

**Oh..uh, nothing...I'm just upset that…she's always after Sasuke-kun and pouncing on him like some piece of meat.**

_Uh huh…sure… admit it you're still inlove with him_

**What!? Noo! I-**

Sakura couldn't finish her argument with her Inner self, because she was pulled into an alley and pinned against the hard brick wall.

* * *

(With Sasuke)

That's when he spotted a familiar pastel pink haired girl walking nearby, her hair slightly blowing across her beautiful face and her unusually bright green eyes sparkling in the sunlight…_whoa wait…what? Why am I thinking this?_

He shook his head, as if to shake off the thought.

"Kyaaaa!! Did someone hit you Sasuke-sama!? You look dazed and kinda red!" one of the girls squealed.

"It's probably you Karin, you're so foolish and clumsy sometimes!" the other girl spat.

"You're hurting my Sasuke-kun!" another screeched

"YOUR?!!!" Karin shouted.

Blah blah blah and the cat fights began.

Sasuke took this chance to get away; he broke free from their grasp and ran to Sakura, his first instinct. _Hide._

_

* * *

_

(Normal POV)

He grabbed the shocked Sakura into an alley and pinned her to a wall, his back to the alleys entrance, hoping the girls would run past. And they did, thank god.

Sakura had her face buried in his *ehem* toned chest, her muffled voice came out,

"MMMFFFHPPMM!!! HEYYY!!! GETOFFAHME!"

"Shhhh, quiet or they'll see us" Sasuke said in hushed whisper.

He looked down into her big emerald orbs, for some reason, he found it hard to tear his gaze away from her but managed to anyway.

(Sakura POV)

When she realized it was Sasuke, she relaxed a bit, she heard him let out a sigh of relief.

"I think we're all clear", he murmured, Sakura let out a soft giggle,

"What?" Sasuke said monotonously, narrowing his eyes at the kunoichi.

...Oh my..his eyes...everytime I look into them; I feel like I'm getting lost in those dark pools of onyx… ehh? Wait what am I saying? Snap out of it Sak!

"Oh nothing, I just think it's funny how a powerful shinobi like you, trained by one of the great Sannin, would be running away from a bunch of girls" she said with a smile, which seemed to soften his piercing gaze at her.

"Hn. I could say the say thing about you and your silly fear of roaches" he replied with a slight shrug, a triumphant smirk creeping on his handsome face.

"It's not silly, they just gross me out! and plus, girls are whole different story from cockroaches." she retorted.

"They're both pretty much the same to me."

"Hey! You can't even compare!" she said, slightly giggling.

"Hmmm… Creeps at you when you least expect it, tiny, annoying...yup pretty much the same." as he was saying this he was animatedly looking up, giving a thoughtful look.

"I'm not tiny! You're just freakishly tall!" she teased, standing on her tiptoes, playfully ruffling his soft, spiky hair.

He caught her hand and put it down at her side.

Sasuke and Sakura didn't notice they were still pressed together, both seemed to be pretty comfortable that way, when they noticed how EXTREMELY close they were, Sasuke pulled back; letting go of her hand, a slight tinge of pink on his cheeks, but it quickly left.

Sakura had a darker blush though. She cleared her throat.

"Uhh...err…we should get going, Naruto's probably waiting for us," she said, trying not to get lost in his eyes again.

"Aa" he didn't notice Sakura was blushing, and that his towering figure over her was the reason why and because he was still just 4 inches away from her, a short silence fell upon them.

Sakura was about to bend down and pick up her fallen groceries, when Sasuke broke the silence.

"I'll carry the bags" as he picked them up and headed back outside to the street.

"You coming?" he stopped in his tracks and turned his head back to her

"Y-y-eah" she said quickly, and hurried by his side.

They walked in comfortable silence for a while, Sasuke sneaked glances at the girl beside him, he couldn't help but stare a little bit and notice the little things, Sakura had definitely changed from her genin years, she was a woman now, her hair was past her shoulders and her eyes seemed to be more mesmerizing, he admitted to himself that Sakura; in short had become beautiful, and she was completely oblivious to it.

Sakura seemed to feel his eyes on her, but didn't say anything. She was just enjoying his company, being around him gave her this slight sense of ...peacefulness for some reason.

Sasuke shifted the bags into one hand and kept the other free, signaling that Sakura take his hand, Sakura looked down into his inviting hand, without hesitation; put her hand in his, he gently gripped her small hands, and kept walking, he didn't look at Sakura, but from the corner of his eye, he could see she was smiling, almost glowing.

* * *

Ever since he came back, Sasuke and Sakura grew closer, the villagers seemed to speculate on what their relationship really was, since they'd be seen spending alot of time together, walking close side by side, holding hands and sometimes fooling around; making jokes and playfully pushing each other...well most of that was done by Sakura, but the observers were intrigued by this, since the Uchiha was a very don't-bother-me-I-need-my-space type, basically, he was a human ice cube..to others that is, all except to his two best friends.

He let Sakura do all these things and not mind it, he actually seemed to enjoy her company, it's like he had a soft spot for the pink haired Kunoichi, Both would always deny any accusations that they were more than "just friends".

They reached the old training grounds, and was greeted by Naruto's loud booming voice coming from a distance.

"Oyyy Sasuke-teme, Sakura-chaaannn OVER HERE" Naruto shouted, while waving at them.

"Shut up dobe, why do you always have to be so loud?" Sasuke replied loudly, but not equally as loud as Naruto's.

They walked to the Cherry Blossom tree Naruto was standing under.

"Your both late...-" his furrowed eyebrows relaxed when he saw the two holding hands, his annoyed facade changed immediately to a playful one.

"Mahhhh...well look at you two, holding hands" he said, eyebrows going up and down.

Sasuke dropped her hand and shoved it in his pocket, Sakura was a little disappointed by this but didn't show it, she brought her hand up to her hair and nervously smoothed it out.

"I brought you your instant ramen" she said cheerfully, trying to change the subject, it worked.

"Arigato Sakura-chan" he said as he dug into the bags and began chattering away.

They spent the afternoon talking, laughing and just having fun, they did this every week when they had a day off from missions, they would come by and meet by the same tree and lake, to relax and watch the sunset.

After an hour, Naruto said he had to leave, saying he was going to meet Hinata and Neji for something.

Leaving Sakura and Sasuke _alone._

_

* * *

_

Sasuke was propped against a tree, and Sakura was beside him, both were looking at the slowly setting sun.

"Sasuke-kun?", he looked at her to show he was paying attention.

"When you were...-" she stopped and thought whether it was okay to ask, but changed her mind, she knew talking about his painful disappearance to Konoha was still a touchy subject for the both of them.

"Ermm..nevermind...." she dropped her question and just slowly leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Sakura" he said huskily.

She looked up again at him, and saw his face was now serious.

"I…" he leaned in closer, he looked like he was concentrating on something, like he was unsure of what to do.

"Yes Sasuke-kun?" eager for him to continue, her heart started beating rapidly, DAMN IT, how does he always do this to me?

"I… don't know how to say this…" his onyx eyes bore into her emerald ones.

"You know you can tell me anything Sasuke-kun" she encouraged.

"I don't… I don't… wanna scare you… it's just that …"

"…", Her face dropped, what was he going to say? What was so serious that made him so… tense and uneasy? She began to feel hopeful that Sasuke would confess his affections for her.

"You… there's… a-bug-crawling-on-your-neck" he said the last sentence quickly.

"NANIIII?!" her eyes grew wider in an instant.

"GET IT OUT GET IT OUT!", she said, getting on her feet and frantically brushing herself off.

She stopped when she heard Sasuke laughing. hard. He was on the grass, clutching his stomach and gasping for dear air. It was a rare sight to see him laugh, even smile. He only did it when he was around her

"Ha ha. Wow. That was real funny Sasuke-kun," she said sarcastically, putting her serious face on before dropping back to her original position beside him, she must've looked so stupid she thought.

"Hahahahhaaha...I'm.... sorry.... hahahahha…your face...hehe... priceless..." after a few more laughs, he cleared his throat and regained his normal stoic composure.

They stayed in silence for a while, appreciating the sunset, and the pink orange shade it cast on the sky, the air had a slight cool breeze, making the cherry blossom tree they were sitting under shed a few leaves, the fallen leaves swirled around, gently landing on the lake and on them, it was really a beautiful sight.

Sakura said suddenly; softly, almost inaudibly, like a whisper, "I'm glad your back".

This startled Sasuke a little, he looked at her face, and saw she wore a sincere smile, he couldn't decide which was more stunning; the scenery or Sakura's magnificent smile.  
He draped his left arm around her shoulders, this made her scoot closer, she sighed contently and rested her head on him again, gently placing her left arm on his chest, she could slightly feel his heartbeat, Sasuke began to feel a tired too, so he leaned his head on top of hers, unintentionally inhaling the sweet scent of strawberries from her hair, Sakura didn't seem to notice.

And with that, Sasuke finally and truly felt like he was glad to be back...he was happy, and all because of the pink haired kunoichi beside him.

"Aa. Me too."

* * *

My first try at a one-shot, sorry if it kinda sucks.

- Lyka


End file.
